Legacy
by Pipsqueak Alchemist
Summary: The Vongola Famiglia through the eyes of Reborn, from the day Tsuna becomes the boss to the day the Sun Arcobaleno draws his last breath. One Shot. Warning: Character Death.


**Title: Legacy**

**Summary: The lives of the Vongola family through the eyes of Reborn from the day Tsuna becomes the Vongola boss to the day the Sun Arcobaleno dies.**

**A/N: I honestly have no idea. Don't even ask where this came from. Just my strange brain spitting out the bountiful plot bunnies it seems to be spawning lately. I might actually write a full-length fic for this one day.**

**It's very rushed, and probably really crappy, but whatever. It's also unedited, so mistakes are entirely my own fault. Feel free to point them out for me to fix later.**

* * *

He looks the same for the longest time. Up until about five, nothing about the baby hitman Reborn changes.

At six, Nana Sawada forces him to go to school.

"It's what children your age do," she says, effectively cutting off all protest.

Reborn knows he could defy the woman if he wanted to, but he does hold some respect for her. After all, through all of his various escapades and training Tsuna, Nana had never said a single word, even though she had known exactly what was going on almost the entire time.

School is boring. The kids are germ breeders, practically belonging under a microscope, and they are so below him in superiority. Honestly, he knows this stuff already. He may be physically six, but Reborn has a mind so wise that it would put most old men to shame.

* * *

When he is physically seven, with the best scores for anyone his age in all of Japan, Sawada Tsunayoshi finally becomes the official boss of the Vongola family.

When the Guardians pick up and move to Italy with their families, of course Reborn and Nana go with them. He begins school again, this time in Italy while Tsuna learns and makes mistakes as any new boss would. Reborn does all he can to help him, but no amount of preparation could have compared to the real world.

Reborn finds it funny that as he attends school with mindless buffoons, Tsuna is constantly being shot at or in the line of danger. It's ironic how their positions changed over time.

* * *

At the physical age of ten, Tsuna marries the girl of his dreams and Reborn can't help but feel just a little bit proud of his no-good student who isn't so no-good anymore.

At the same time, Tsuna's family grows just a bit bigger as the Guardians start families of their own, and Reborn trades the name Hitman Reborn in for Uncle Reborn.

The baby looks like a rotten tomato. Small, pink, wrinkly, and smelly. Not to mention loud.

He is, Reborn guesses, only the first of many.

Yamamoto, usually so calm and ready for anything, looks scared out of his mind. As his smiling wife hands him the tiny baby, the Rain Guardian looks afraid of holding little Isamu, like he's afraid he'll drop him.

He doesn't. He cradles the tiny baby to his chest like a treasure, which Isamu might as well be in the eyes of the natural born hitman. With amber eyes that reflect Yamamoto's, Isamu gurgles happily, swinging his tiny fist in the air and grasping at his father's suit jacket.

Yamamoto has never looks so startled and happy.

"Hi, Isamu," he says under his breath, so low that Reborn has to strain to hear. "I'm your dad. I promise to take care of you, okay?"

And so marks the beginning of the Eleventh Generation.

* * *

A couple of years pass normally. Tsuna finally manages to get the hang of what being the boss of many members and smaller families is like, and all is well in the mafia world. There are occasional skirmishes, of course, but the Guardians know what they're doing now, and there are no major wars or massacres.

Isamu turns five years old and he can't get enough of baseball. Yamamoto delightedly teaches him everything he knows and spends as much time with his son as possible. Isamu is a Rain Guardian in the making, reflecting his father almost to a T. Gokudera would argue with that statement, just a bit; Isamu is a very bright boy, and seemed to enjoy learning things outside of baseball, too. Academically, he would be much better than his father, so baseball is their bonding time.

Isamu gets particularly attached to Tsuna. He always begs for the Neo Vongola Primo to join him and Yamamoto when they play catch or practice hitting, and if he's not too busy, Tsuna will oblige. The young boss seems to love the smile on the boy's face, and the idea of children seems to be growing on him.

Reborn can tell that there will be little heads of brown in the near future, and he looks forward to working with the Eleventh Generation.

Life is good.

* * *

When he is physically fifteen, Yamamoto's family gains another addition.

Yamamoto is proud of his daughter. He's smiling, but not the big cheesy grin; this smile is soft, so full of affection and love that Reborn has seen only in rare occasions. The new baby is so tiny in Yamamoto's callused, bigger tan hands, but Yamamoto knows what he's doing now.

Little Amaya is calm, tranquil like a light rain. Big amber eyes that match her father's stare up at the face of the Rain Guardian.

Reborn knows that she is far from the last.

* * *

Hibari and Chrome, surprisingly, are next.

Two months after Amaya's birth, little Chikara comes into the world with a scowl on her pale face. Chrome cradles her like she is something delicate, something that will break if she holds her too tight or not tightly enough.

Hibari stands protectively by their side, and if one knew him well enough, they would see the pride in his eyes.

Reborn still can't get over the fact that the three of the first two children are girls. He can't help but think of how much trouble the two will cause once they are older, especially in such a male-dominated field.

A year passes, and as the only two children, Amaya and Chikara are put together an awful lot. They playfully shove and coo at each other, and their first words are not mama or papa or the Japanese equivalent. No; Amaya's first word is none other than a shrieked, "Chika!", and Chikara's quietly uttered first word is herbivore.

As they learn to toddle around on unsteady legs with big brother Isamu watching over them, baby number four makes an appearance.

* * *

Gokudera Hayato is a complete wreck as he paces outside the delivery room, and Reborn can't help but find the scene hilarious. The usually strong-willed and prepared storm looks like he's about to faint at any moment.

Is it bad that sixteen-year-old Reborn actually laughs when it happens?

Gokudera is unconscious still when the Storm of the Eleventh Generation enters the world.

Akashi is small; he is a few weeks premature, after all, but he is healthy and the doctors are confident that he will remain as such. When Gokudera finally comes around, he carefully lifts his son into his arms and his eyes shine with such awe that Reborn has never seen directed at anyone but Tsuna before.

And then little Akashi wails and pees on his father, and the curses from the Storm Guardian could be heard all throughout the hospital.

* * *

Five months later, Uncle Reborn finally gains a third nephew.

Ryohei is much too energetic, Reborn can't help but think. The Sun Guardian has been spouting off how extreme children are for the last several months; ever since Hana announced her pregnancy, basically. She hated kids, she quickly assured everyone, but she'd be happy to have someone that is part of her and also part of her loud and determined husband.

Hana hates kids, and there is no doubt about it. She just hates hers less. And not at all, really.

Haruki is the light of her world, the sun in her life, just as his name implies. He shines from the moment is born, and the two parents can't help but love him immediately.

It's no surprise when Haruki cries loudly, more so than any baby Reborn has ever heard before. It makes sense, with how extreme his father is.

Haruki is the last to be born for a year, and in that one year time frame, a mafia war begins.

* * *

The Stella Marina hate the clams the most, it would seem.

Reborn is still sixteen and the war is new, only two months old, but already much blood has been shed, and the odds may not be in the Vongola's favor.

As an up and coming family, the Stella Marina are eager to prove their worth, and if taking down the Vongola successfully will gain them the respect and fear they want from others, then so be it.

Among assassinations and firefights and attempts on Tsuna's life, Reborn remembers what it is to be a hitman.

And as he pulls the trigger to end a life for the first time since meeting Tsuna so many years ago, Reborn can't help that feeling of power that creeps into his gut.

* * *

When he is physically seventeen, in the midst of the darkness that is war and bloodshed, there is a new form of light that graces the Vongola family.

Now, Reborn has seen babies before, but this one has him awed.

As soon as Hiroshi Sawada enters the world, the entire Vongola family is practically wrapped around his little finger, and Reborn is no exception. Not that he would ever let anyone know that.

He's so quiet for a baby. He cries softly at first, but in the arms of his mother, he immediately hushes, staring at his surroundings with big doe-brown eyes that are unnaturally observant for a newborn.

Reborn takes a liking to him immediately, and he knows in that moment that the future of the Vongola rests in very capable hands, and Tsuna will have nothing to worry about when he steps down.

It doesn't matter that Tsuna immediately declares that his son will never be the boss of the family. He doesn't exactly get a say, since by fathering the child he has already doomed Hiroshi to the life of a mafioso.

But Reborn doesn't say it aloud, of course.

* * *

At the physical age of nineteen, Reborn considers getting a camera, and maybe take up scrap booking. He would title one page "Baby's First Attempt On Life!"

The war is two years old now, and Hiroshi has just turned one, with the two girls being four and the Storm and Sun brats closer to three, but not quite there yet. Isamu, at nine, doesn't have much in common with them, so he is usually off practicing with the bamboo sword his father is teaching him to use.

Tsuna and his Guardians are off doing whatever it is they do these days. Lambo and I-Pin who have been married for several months and happen to be twenty-four and older than him (though only by appearance, Reborn reminds a smug Stupid Cow constantly), stay back as the babysitters of the children because Tsuna really doesn't want their children to be in the hands of a hitman who would rather let them sit in their own filth than change diapers.

It's kind of funny, actually. While Isamu is practicing with his bamboo sword in the corner, Lambo is crawling on the floor with the happy toddlers, laughing as they coo and grasp at his limbs and climb onto him like a jungle gym. Amaya hits him with her plastic sword while Chikara spouts off things about herbivores and makes 'pew pew' noises with her little water gun in hand, but the 'pew pew' becomes real all too quickly.

Hiroshi immediately bursts into tears when the three men burst into the room and start shooting. Lambo yelps as I-Pin tackles him and the children behind a couch, but they both quickly shield the blubbering children with their bodies. Isamu joins them before his siblings are even fully shielded.

Leaving Reborn, of course, to take care of the mess that has become of the playroom.

He dispatches them quickly enough, since he keeps a gun on him at all time. In war, you never know when you're going to need to fight or defend yourself. His hand gun is no Leon, who unfortunately died a few years previous, but he makes due and soon enough there are three dead assassins on the floor. Blood soaks into the carpet quickly.

"The maids will never be able to clean that up," he sighs as the red pools at his feet.

He looks over to the couch, where whimpering can still be heard, and he will never admit it aloud, but his gut clenches just a little at the terrified faces of the children that trust him so much.

They avoid him like the plague for weeks after that, and nothing is the same again.

* * *

At twenty, Reborn once again finds himself in a hospital as Chrome and Hibari welcome baby number two into the world.

"Extreme!" Haruki giggles loudly as the Vongola Guardians wait outside the delivery room.

Shimeru is a peculiar baby. He isn't born with a scowl on his face like his sister, but Mukuro immediately takes a liking to him, and this scares the entire Tenth Generation more than they want to admit.

"He's an illusionist," he informs the group at large with a smirk on his face. "It's painfully obvious."

Hibari threatens to bite him to death, and the Guardians thank Kami-sama that Mukuro has vowed never to have children, for he would surely traumatize them greatly.

* * *

At twenty-two, the sky becomes more vast.

Naomi Sawada is nothing like her brother. Where her brother is quiet and observant, Naomi sobs and cries and refuses to be silenced.

Reborn can already tell that she is going to be the source of trouble in the coming years.

Tsuna lets Reborn hold the squirming infant, but he probably looks awkward. He doesn't know what to do with children, though he has been around them for years. Hiroshi hovers close, wary eyes never leaving Reborn, as if remembering the incident from the first assassination attempt on his life. He looks at Reborn accusingly, almost, as if daring the hitman to try anything that would harm his new little sister.

The look kills him on the inside just a little.

But it doesn't matter. Within seconds, fussing Naomi silences, staring up at his face with big amber eyes reminiscent of Kyoko's. And even though she is drooling and has no teeth and is barely an hour old, Reborn will swear on his life that the kid smiles at him before falling asleep.

No one is more surprised than the hitman himself when, after leaving the hospital, little Naomi attaches herself to him right away. As she grows, she increasingly demands to be near him, and her first words uttered are "Unca Born."

It takes all of his self control not to smile at that.

* * *

At the physical age of twenty-five, the starfish still refuse to be forgotten, and they deliver the Vongola family a tragedy to make sure that they remain at the forefront of their thoughts.

The attack on the mansion is swift and quick, lasting only an hour before retreating like the cowards they are.

In that hour, though, the worst happens.

In his entire life, Reborn has been to many funerals, but none were quite as sad as the one for Hiroshi Sawada.

It was a large service, with members of mafia families from all over the world. Even the Varia attend, offering their condolences to a very quiet and withdrawn Tsuna as he holds his wife close to his side and hugs his three-year-old daughter closer to his chest.

There is even rain during the service, but Amaya isn't playing in the puddles like she normally would. Instead, her tears mix with the rain, mourning for the sky that faded to gray too fast.

Naomi didn't know what was happening, really. She was too young to comprehend the idea of death. But her brother was in that tiny casket that members of her family were lowing into the ground, and -

"No, don't throw dirt on Hiro!" she called, kicking and squirming in Tsuna's tight grasp. "He won't be able to play with me anymore, and Uncle Reborn will be sad! Hiro!"

Isamu chokes on a sob. As the oldest of the kids, he has tried to be strong through the entire ordeal and not once cry. He has comforted the others as best as any child can, refusing to mourn unless everyone else is taken care of first.

But as the teenager sobs and hugs his father, it is then that Reborn vows to absolutely decimate the Stella Marina, no matter what Tsuna's opinion on the matter may be.

The Stella Marina had made a big mistake, and they would soon learn the hard way.

* * *

The family isn't the same anymore. Tsuna and his other Guardians barely venture out of their offices or take time to rest between missions, throwing themselves into their work in an attempt to keep their mind off the tragedy that is still fresh in their minds.

Fifteen-year-old Isamu becomes quiet, and he refuses to play baseball with his father anymore when he offers during his free time because Hiroshi is no longer there to bring him to home. All he does is practice his sword skills, never leaving his room or the practice room unless it is to eat, sleep, or go to school, and even then he skips to practice elsewhere.

Amaya and Chikara get suspended from school more often, fighting with anyone that so much as glances at them the wrong way.

Akashi fights with Haruki all the time without Hiroshi to be the mediator, and soon the two can't even be in the same room without an insult or a punch being thrown.

Without her big brother around anymore, Naomi clings to Shimeru, the only one closest to her in age. She is still as loud and clingy toward Reborn, and Shimeru still plays alone sometimes, but they form a close friendship, nonetheless, and are the two that change the least because of the whole ordeal.

* * *

When he is physically twenty-six, the Stupid Cow and I-Pin manage to bring a bit of happiness back to the family in the form of a stinky double whammy.

Twins Huang and Luciano are Yin and Yang personified. They're as different as light and dark, night and day, etc. Huang, older by five minutes with dark eyes and soft dark hair like his mother, is a fussy baby from the moment he is born, demanding attention and care immediately. Luciano with bushy wild curls and green eyes that resemble Lambo's, cries for a little but is soon quiet, with small cooing noises and gurgles escaping his mouth every so often.

When she first sees them, Naomi is in awe. Up until the birth of the twins she had been the youngest, the one that needed caring for. Reborn could already tell that she would find some way to corrupt the twins and guide them down the path of manipulation via puppy-eyes and tears.

Reborn doesn't know whether he should be impressed or a bit worried on behalf of the family members that can't resist Naomi.

At the end of the day, though, Reborn is relieved. The family needs a bit of happiness in their lives, and if it needs to come from lightning striking twice, then so be it.

* * *

At the age of twenty-seven, Reborn realizes that it is time.

He goes to Tsuna to ask for his permission to start a harder training regimen, this time in preparation of the children becoming the potential Eleventh Vongola Guardians.

Of course, his answer is met with rejection, but it does not deter him. He goes ahead with the training anyway.

Isamu is seventeen, and very perceptive. He can tell what Reborn is doing, and he makes a silent promise to not say anything. Not that he says much these days, but even so, he doesn't tell Tsuna or his father that Reborn is preparing the way for them.

Naomi is only five when Reborn begins with his training regimen, and Luciano and Huang are barely one. He ignores them for the time being; he can go back and train them when they are older.

He focuses instead on those that can learn something from his training.

* * *

A few weeks into their training, Reborn thinks he has made the right choice, especially when he hears of the attack.

Isamu is walking to the middle school three blocks from his own, where he will wait by the gates until the younger Vongola kids got out and then walk them home. On the way, he was tugged into an alley by some older kids he went to school with, but that connection didn't matter. Isamu usually avoids them at all costs because of their ties to the Stella Marina, but it's hard to avoid a group of five teens bigger than you.

So Isamu does what he has to: he fights.

Reborn knows he's probably glad that his Yamamoto gave him his own Shigure Kintoki years before. It's probably what saved his life in the end.

Isamu refuses to kill, which Reborn finds admirable and frustrating at the same time. If it was them or him, would he have killed them? Like his father, Isamu was reluctant to kill, but also like Yamamoto, Reborn knew it wouldn't last.

Yamamoto has killed before in the name of protecting his family, and Reborn has no doubts that Isamu will learn to do the same while other kids his age are going to universities and starting their lives.

Reborn hopes Isamu doesn't regret his decision to stay with the family.

* * *

At the age of thirty-five, Reborn begins to train thirteen-year-old Naomi.

It's gradual training. He slowly teaches her about flames, and how she can use them. He goads her into situations, much like what he had done with Tsuna upon their first meeting, and he uses the Dying Will Bullets he saved from Leon.

When Tsuna finds out, he is livid.

"How could you do that?" he yells, his voice so loud that it probably carries throughout the entire mansion. "She's thirteen! She should be focusing on school, not have you shoot Dying Will Bullets at her!"

"She's not a normal girl, Tsuna," Reborn says, his tone stern and leaving no room for argument. "She's the heir to a mafia family. She needs to be prepared for what is to come."

"I don't want this for her, Reborn!"

"You knew this would happen, Tsuna. From the moment you decided you wanted kids, you knew one of them would have to take your place one day."

Tsuna grips the edges of the large desk he has been leaning on while he yells at a calmly sitting Reborn. "I didn't think it would be this hard, Reborn," he says quietly. "I don't want this for her. She's not like Isamu, or Amaya or Chikara. She's not made for this life, and you and I both know it."

It's true enough. Naomi, as outgoing and people-friendly as she may be, has no talent for being a mafia boss. She makes poor decisions and would rather spend her time doing anything _but_ doing anything involving the mafia.

"Just let it go, Reborn," Tsuna says, and he looks so tired, and much older than he is. "She's not the one. None of them are meant to be the Eleventh Generation."

Reborn can see that now, but he wishes he had noticed it sooner.

* * *

Twenty-five-year-old Isamu ends up marrying the girl of his dreams. Watching the two together at their wedding, Reborn has never felt so old before.

He hopes that he will be around for the real Eleventh Generation Guardians.

* * *

Reborn turns forty-five when Naomi has her first child.

Cielo Capello looks more like his Italian father than he does his fully Japanese mother with his dark eyes and olive skin. Even his hair is a dark brown, but Reborn laughs out loud when he sees the child because the gravity-defying locks are definitely from Naomi.

As little Cielo grows older, he lives up to his surname; he certainly is a little trickster, very different from his parents and his other family members.

Reborn can't help but feel relieved, though, when Cielo shows signs of being just as dame as his grandfather.

* * *

For Cielo, turning fourteen means being declared the official heir of the Vongola.

He has friends by his side, of course. The grandchildren of the original Tenth Generation Guardians are with him, and they show promise in the areas that their parents lacked in. They truly are meant to be the Eleventh Guardians.

Cielo looks happy among his friends. His Storm Guardian Tonino Gokudera is two years older than him, his Rain Guardian Amalia Yamamoto is older by a mere five months, and his Sun Guardian Makoto Sasagawa is only a good three weeks older. His Cloud is Marcello Battaglia, the only son of Hibari's daughter Chikara, but with his skills in fighting, the last name he inherited from his Italian father is certainly fitting. The Mist Guardian Kasumi Hibari was trained personally by Mukuro from a young age, and though two years younger than Cielo, she is already quite skilled.

The Lightning Guardian was the hardest to pick. In all, Lambo and I-Pin ended up having five grandchildren because of their twins, and while the most obvious choice would have been the oldest grandchild, nothing is ever as it is expected in the Vongola family.

Ten-year-old Nicolo Bovino certainly has a lot to learn, but he has the most potential out of his siblings and cousins. Reborn isn't sure how, as he watches the brat yawn boredly and space out every five minutes, but there must have been something appealing about him to make Cielo choose him.

Cielo is so much like Tsuna that it scares Reborn sometimes. Though different in appearance (with the exception being the gravity-defying hair), the two had nearly the same personality, though Cielo is better prepared than Tsuna is.

Reborn feels something akin to pride as Tsuna declares the young boy his heir, and Cielo's eight-year-old brother Hideyoshi clings happily to his older brother's side.

Only one thing could make Reborn happier.

* * *

At the age of sixty-five, Reborn watches as the Stella Marina family falls to pieces, and he feels no remorse over it.

The war ends, but not without a bloody final battle, of course. The Vongola manage to come out on top, and there are casualties. Thankfully, their casualties are far less than that of the Stella Marina, which has practically been wiped out.

Reborn has had blood on his hands before, but none quite so satisfying as now. He doesn't mind the red that stains his clothes and ruins his shoes; he doesn't care that he looks like a homicidal maniac, either. The threat to the Vongola has been eradicated. The threat to the children that he has watched grow up is no longer there to give them nightmares or make them watch over their shoulders all of the time.

He doesn't feel the wound in his chest anymore, or hear the panicked shouts of his name coming from Cielo and his Guardians.

As he lays dying on the floor of the Stella Marina mansion with other members of the enemy, Reborn smiles with bloody teeth up at Cielo as the twenty-year-old leans over his mentor, tears shining in his eyes.

"Dame," Reborn says, and then chokes out a laugh.

Cielo bites his lip to keep from sobbing as the battle finally dies down around them, and the rest of the Eleventh Generation Guardians crowd around him.

Reborn has regrets, of course. He regrets not being able to save Hiroshi when he could, he regrets not helping Naomi realize her true potential, he regrets not having a family of his of his own, he regrets that he isn't going to be able to watch the beginnings of the Twelfth Generation when Amalia walks down the isle in a white dress in three weeks, and he regrets not being able to meet Nicolo's first girlfriend.

He regrets many things, but he certainly doesn't regret dying now that the Stella Marina can no longer threaten his family.

And he feels something akin to peace.


End file.
